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' O. W. WHEELER.

METHOD OF MAKING WAIST BANDS FOR GARMENTS. No. 353,392. Patented Nov. 30, 1886.

N PETERS. Fholc-Lilhogmhar. Washington, [LG

UNITED STATES PATENT -OFFICE.

CHARLES W. WHEELER, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

METH ODOF MAKING WAISTBANDS FOR GARMENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 353,392, dated November 30, 1886.

Application filed November 21, 1885. Serial No. 183.525. (No modell) lightness of the material of which it is frequently made and the strain imposed upon the buttons by the weight of other garments attached thereto.

The invention consists in forming a reenforcing strip integral with the waistband, and in folding such strip to form an additional thickness at the middle of the band before or during the process of securing it upon the waist, and in securing the buttons upon the waistband where it is thus strengthened. By such construction the labor of making and applying a re-enforcing strip is greatly reduced, as it is handled at the same time with the waistband, and is secured upon the waist by the mere operation of sewing the band thereon. I

The improvement is shown in the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is afront view of a shirt-waist, at, having a band, I), with the strengthening-strip indicated by dotted lines c. Fig. 2 represents the inside ofpart of a band having a construction shown in the transverse section at Fig. 3, the latter view being taken across the'waistband on line 00 x in Fig. 2, and a portion of the shirt-waist a being shown behind the band to illustrate the relation of the band to the buttons d and the waist a. Fig. 4 is a similar section of a band of alternative construction having the strengthening-strip formed as shown in Fig. 5, which is a diagram showing a sewed band partly folded.

As the. buttons are always attached to the middle of the width of the band, it is obvious that the strip must be applied particularly to that point, and it is also evident that the utmost economy in the manufacture and application of the band to the shirt-waist can be Secured by making the strengthening-strip in the same piece with the band, and projected from the edge of the latter toward its middle byproperly folding the material before or at the time that the band is sewed upon the waist. Such integral construction also serves to retain the strengthening-strip in its place and avoids the sewing of such strip separately to either the band or the waist, thus securing the desired improvement without any additional expense above that of the material required.

Figs. 3 and 4 show the strengthening-strip constructed integral with the band, while Fig. 5 shows it formed in a separate piece.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the strengthening-strip is formed by making the band a of a piece of fabric wide enough to fold inward upon both edges beyond the middle of the band, and having the extreme edges of the fabric brought together and laid in a two-ply strip, 6, upon the inner side of one of the folded edges 6. Such two-ply strip, in addition to said folded edge and the body of the band, makes a fourply thickness, and with the shirt-waist a, to which it is attached, affords a foundation of five thicknesses to secure the buttons d. To form such a band a wide piece of stuff would be required, as shown by the dotted line n, and the material would be folded with the edges together, and have a seam, f, run at a distance from the edges corresponding with the desired width of the strip e. When such seam is completed, the fabric will form a hollow tube,which may then be folded, as shown in Fig. 3, to lay the material of the strip in the middle of the band at its rear side, where it is required to sustain the button-fastenings. The edges of the band are then secured to the waist by rows of stitching i, the seam f holding the strip e firmly in the middle, inside of the band, as desired. The buttons may be fastened to such a band in any desired manner, Fig. 3 showing a button sewed thereto by stitches g passing through the entire substance of the band and the waist, and thus catching in five thicknesses of the fabric.

Figs. 4 and 5 show a band constructed to the band being folded with-its edges together, and a seam, f, run along near such edges, but closer thereto than the seam f in Fig. 3. When such seam is completed, the band is folded with the seam along its middle line, the edges of the fabric at it being turned away from one another, and forming, with the front of' the band and its backward folds, three thicknesses, to which the buttons may be attached, in addition to the thickness of the waist a. The stitching of the edges of the band to the waist, as at the seam j; then serves to hold the outwardlyfolded edges h in place along the middle of the band, so that when the buttons are attached the fastenings therefor will engage with the folded material at each side of the seam f, as desired. The button (I is shown secured to such band by stitches passing through the shirt-waist, and thereby engaging with four thicknesses of fabric; but the buttons may obviously be secured to the band by rivets or any other mode of fastening, as such fastening forms no part of my present invention.

The diagram in Fig. 6 is intended to illustrate the preparation of a broad piece of fabric (like that shown in the dotted line 11 of Fig. 3) for folding into the band shown in Fig. 3 or 4. f represents the seam, (which is shown at f in Fig. 3 and at f in Fig. 4,) and which is run at the desired distance from the edges m, which are intended to form the strengthening'strip. The only difference in the bands shown in Figs. 3 and 4 arises from the disposition of the edges, which are shown atm in Fig. 6, the folding of both edges in the same direction, so as to lie behind the middle of the band, constituting the arrangement shown in Fig. 3, while the folding of the edges in opposite directions, with the seam behind the middle of the band, produces the construction shown in Fig. 4,where the edges are lettered h.

My improvement secures a very material saving in the art of manufacturing re-enforced bands, as the operator is not required to prepare a separate piece of fabric for the re-enforced strip, nor to arrange and secure the same in place within the band.

Having thus set forth the nature of my improvement, what I claim herein is- The improvement herein described in the art of making re-enforced waistbands and attaching them to the waist, consisting in folding the waistband material with its two edges adjacent, securing the material together on a.

line parallel with such edges, folding the said edges to lie in the middle of the band, and attaching the band to the waist by stitching the edges thereto, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES wi WHEELER.

W'itnesses:

THOS. S. CRANE, JOHN H. MENTZ. 

